


Lost Goodbyes

by the_aidangaile



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Slavery, Depression, F/M, Like really slow, M/M, Marie Antoinette Syndrome, Muteness, No Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Suicidal Thoughts, but itll get there promise, i don't know if i will call it that within the story though, technically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23421751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_aidangaile/pseuds/the_aidangaile
Summary: Sokka was taken by Yon Rha and his crew during the attack on the Southern Water Tribe. Passed along as a servant by many cruel members of the Fire Nation, Sokka ends up as the personal servant to the crown prince himself.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 88
Kudos: 374





	1. Things We Lost to the Flames (Bastille)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is an idea I've had in my mind for a long time and it's one I really had to write down, so I'm really sorry to anyone who was waiting for another chapter of my BNHA fic but here, have this instead, and I promise I'm not abandoning that one.  
> Ideally I'll follow canon eventually with this fic, but there are lots of things I need to establish in the time frame preceding Zuko's Agni Kai, as well as Aang's discovery and return. I have lots and lots of plans for this though so I'm really excited.

Sokka was 10 the day ash fell from the sky.

He remembers every detail about that day. He remembers waking up, complaining about having to eat Mom’s stew for the fifth day in a row, arguing with Katara about whether or not her waterbending was cool, playing with Kallik (an older boy who always made time for Sokka), slipping on the ice and calling for Mom to help… ash falling from the sky as the Fire Nation approached.

He didn’t understand then that he would be seeing and doing all of those things for the last time. He didn’t even fully understand what was happening. All he knew was at one moment, there was deafening silence, and the next, the sky was filled with screams of terror and cries for help.

And Katara ran away, to find Mom.

He wasted no time finding Katara. It wasn’t really that he was trying to protect her, not at that point. Everything was far too chaotic, and all he wanted was to find Katara and figure out what was happening.

She was crying when he found her.

“Katara, what’s-”

“M-Mom, it’s Mom, Sokka, they’re-”

Sokka would never know what was meant to end that sentence. At that moment, a strange man Sokka didn’t know yet but one he would soon know far too well exited out of their own house. He stumbled backward, then another step, then another. The man grinned at him, but it was more of a snarl. “Well, now, what do we have here?”

He forced his shaking hands to make fists as he stared up at the man. “Let me through! Where’s my mom?” His voice was shaking.

The man laughed and shook his head.

Sokka’s stomach dropped.

He wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing. All he knew was, in the next moment, he was struggling to get past the man, landing pathetic hits on his shoulder as he lifted Sokka up by his parka.

“You’re a feisty one, huh?” His breath smelled like what Sokka imagined death to be. “You know, I promised the woman I’d leave everyone else alone, but I might have to go back on my word a little.”

Sokka had no idea what the man was saying, but he thrashed and screamed and tried his hardest to get away.

Everything went black.

* * *

When he awoke, he was on a Fire Nation ship. He didn’t know that, yet. The man who had been in Sokka’s house was standing there. His name was Yon Rha, but Sokka didn’t know that yet, either. All Sokka knew was that his clothes were missing, all aside from the bottom layer, yet he didn’t feel cold.

“Hello, boy,” the man stated, less of a greeting and more of a command.

Sokka flinched away, shrinking back as much as he could.

The man laughed. “Wrong answer. Stand up.”

Tremulously, Sokka managed to rise to his feet. He was still disoriented from the unknown location and the loss of consciousness, so he wasn’t yet at the point where he was questioning what he was doing. His survival instincts were running his every action, and right now, they told him to obey this man.

“Now. Bow to me.”

Bow? Bowing wasn’t something done in the Water Tribes, though Sokka knew it was common in other parts of the world. He slowly lowered his head until he was staring at his bare toes.

The man scoffed. “You call that a respectful bow? I’m your master, and you  _ will _ treat me with the highest honor.”

Sokka barely registered the “master” part. He bowed again, this time from his midsection, but it apparently was not good enough.

“Kneel!”

Sokka obeyed silently.

“Now, bow until your nose touches the floor!”

Sokka obeyed, and it seemed to satisfy the man. “We’ll teach you some respect before we get back to the mainland. No servant of mine will act in this manner.”

Servant?

The man turned, as if to leave the room, which Sokka noted distantly was small, dark, and metal. “A member of the ship’s crew will be here in around one hour to train you. Prove your worth, or I may… slip. We wouldn’t want such a young child to fall overboard, now would we?”

The fear made Sokka dizzy.

The man didn’t wait for an answer before exiting the room and closing the door hard enough to make Sokka jump.

* * *

The crewmember that came to teach Sokka was a woman named Rei.

She was gentle and spoke softly and moved slowly. She understood that Sokka was scared and did everything she could to keep him calm, or at the very least keep from terrifying him further.

She reminded him of Mom.

“What is your name?”

Talking was too hard, and Sokka hated it. He was a Water Tribe warrior, he wasn’t too weak to talk. But Sokka just shook his head.

Rei smiled gently, her eyes sad. “That’s alright. Can you stand?”

Sokka nodded, and took the hand Rei offered. Her hands were rough and calloused, evidence of hard physical labor. She was sturdy, helping him to his feet as if it was effortless. And sure, Sokka was only ten, but he weighed more than a few pounds. 

Yet, despite her rough strength, Rei seemed gentle and caring, the way his own mother was.

Later, he would learn that she had lost a son in the war.

She looked him over, finding the injury on Sokka’s head that he had barely noticed, realizing it was probably the source of his throbbing headache and, most likely, what had caused him to black out while trying to defend Katara.

Katara…

He was suddenly painfully aware that he had no idea if his sister was okay. What happened to her? Where was she? Was she somewhere on the ship, or was she still with Dad? Or somewhere else? Did the Fire Nation capture her? Or… Worse?

He didn’t notice himself becoming less steady until he nearly fell over. Rei caught him and lowered him gently to the floor, feeling his forehead and sighing softly. “You have some time to rest, but Yon Rha will want you working by the end of today.”

Sokka didn’t know what working meant, and wasn’t sure he wanted to find out, but unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice. Rei stayed with him, helping him get to his feet and offering soft words of comfort, until he was as prepared as she could get him. Prepared for what, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t have to wonder for very long. Once he had recovered enough to walk and speak, though still not much, she led him out of the small, dark room he had awoken in, down a hallway, through to the bottom of a staircase leading to a room that was overwhelmingly hot. Sokka hadn’t felt so much heat at any point in his life, and he felt dizzy again. Wherever he was, his body definitely wasn’t made for it. “Help,” he called out, feeling just a little pathetic and a little babyish, but most of him didn’t care. Rei’s strong arms steadied him, and he was grateful for it.

The room was lit with an orange glow coming from several large openings containing burning coals. A giant furnace room. There were workers at each of the furnaces, shoveling coal into the gaping holes, avoiding the dark fumes that billowed out after every shovel. The room stank of sweat, coal, and… vomit?

Rei seemed to notice Sokka’s reaction to the smell, and smiled in a way that left her eyes sad. “Yeah, it’s not pleasant down here, but you’ll adjust to the smell, unfortunately.” She silently led him over to a more sparsely populated area of the room. The workers were of all ages, ranging from a teenager to a man who could possibly have grandkids, from the way he looked. Sokka, though, was the youngest one by far.

The group he was near helped teach him his duties, instructing him on the manual labor he’d have to do to help power the ship. As it turned out, the smell was legitimately vomit; the combination of nearly empty stomachs containing nothing more than rotten scraps with the intense physical tasks they were forced to do caused more than one upset stomach on a regular basis.

Fortunately, the boiler room was not the only area Sokka would be contained to. There was a small “cafeteria” for the workers next to the boiler room, which, while unpleasant, was infinitely better than the boiler room. For one, they actually got to sit down. Another, although it was far from enough to fill anyone’s stomach and usually had the quality typically reserved for rats, they got food. Sokka learned quickly to save what little he got as long as he could, even breaking the rules and sneaking things into the boiler room from time to time to continue eating throughout the day, giving himself the illusion of being more fed than he was.

Of course, that only lasted so long.

The supervisors were all firebenders, and they changed every day. None of the higher crew of the ship wanted to spend their time down with the “peasants” in the boiler room, with the unpleasant odor, the overwhelming heat, and the deafening noise. Yet, supervisors were always present, and more than a few workers received new burns from fire whips daily. It was only a matter of time before Sokka himself received a punishment, and that day came when he foolishly brought his pathetic bowl of flavorless broth into the boiler room.

He had tripped.

That was all it took for Sokka to be stripped of his shirt and lashed with white hot flames for what felt like an eternity.

He woke up crying in Rei’s arms, somehow in the overcrowded room adjacent to the cafeteria where the workers slept. She had allowed him to sleep close to her since the first day, and that night, she soothed him while doing everything she could to ease the pain of the burns on his back.

“You poor boy,” she said softly. “No one deserves this, but you’re so young.”

Part of Sokka wanted to say that he wasn’t a baby, that he was basically an adult and could handle it, but he knew it was a lie.

He couldn’t handle it.

Rei was there to comfort him every night, if he needed it. Even after his burns had mostly healed, there were nights he burst into tears once they entered the relative safety of the sleeping chamber. Many workers complained about him, often saying things about how much better it would be if they all let Sokka die instead of putting up with his crying all the time, but Rei didn’t let them come near. Instead, she spoke to Sokka softly while cradling him, telling him stories he’d never heard before.

Sokka learned of Agni, the sun god, who watched over more than just the Fire Nation. Agni ruled the whole world, and caused night and day to come, brought the seasons, gave life to the world.

Sokka learned of Jie, Rei’s son. He learned of the way Jie would always come home with something new for his mother to learn, some piece of information from school or the market or his friends that would be fascinating for his mother to learn, because he knew how much knowledge meant to her. She had never been educated, and never learned how to read, so the gift of knowledge her son shared with her was something she treasured.

Sokka learned of Fire Nation songs, the kind that children grew up with as lullabies. He learned of tales of brave Fire Lords and cruel savages, but also stories of great benevolent dragons that gave the gift of fire to the world.

Rei protected Sokka, and Sokka was beyond grateful for the small amount of comfort he received when he was with her.

Of course, Yon Rha ordered her transferred to work in a higher level of the ship, causing Sokka to be left alone outside of the nights, when she still returned to the lowest part of the ship to sleep.

* * *

Several days, possibly even many weeks, had passed since Sokka had been taken from his home. Sokka had not seen the light of day since.

The routine was brutal. It left him starved, sleep deprived, and worked until he was on death’s doorstep. However, some instinct within him was keeping him alive. He was afraid of punishment, so he was always aware of his every action. He let himself fall into the repetitiveness, allowing the hours to slip away until he was able to return to the safety offered by Rei.

Of course, he wasn’t perfect.

Once, he accidentally ran into one of the supervising firebenders while rushing into the boiler room. He had overslept, and the punishment for tardiness was brutal.

So was the punishment for clumsiness, he discovered.

The supervisor once again had Sokka remove his shirt, but this time, Sokka’s hands were bound before he was tied to a pole, his back exposed and his hands above his head. The firebender sent lash after lash of flames at Sokka, and Sokka screamed in agony every time one landed on him.

Then, he was left there for hours.

It wasn’t until the following day of work that he was let down. With not even a few moments of recovery, he was sent back to work.

Sokka blacked out.

* * *

When his senses returned, Sokka found himself back in the room he was first kept in when the Fire Nation had taken him. Standing above him was Yon Rha, and, remembering the first day aboard the ship, Sokka immediately went to correct his positioning, bowing “properly” before Yon Rha despite the pain that flowed through his body like lightning bolts.

He let out a small whimper of pain that despite his best efforts, he was unable to contain.

Yon Rha spoke in a flat, terrifying tone. “From what I have been told, your miserable state is the result of being unable to handle the punishment given to you.”

Sokka was silent, his nose pressed to the floor.

“If you had been unable to handle punishment, you should have avoided needing punishment in the first place, don’t you agree?” Yon Rha asked, malice in his voice. He paused, then continued as he walked back and forth in front of Sokka. “Tomorrow, we will reach the Fire Nation shore. At that point, we must determine what to do with you.”

Sokka’s breath caught. Surely nothing could possibly be worse than what he’d experienced on the ship, right?

“I should have killed you the moment I laid eyes on you,” Yon Rha stated coldly. “I gave you a chance to survive and prove your worth, and so far, you have performed… inadequately.”

Panic was rising within Sokka. Nausea was overwhelming him, and while he had vomited on the ship before, he really,  _ really _ didn’t want to here. He severely doubted it would improve Yon Rha’s opinion of him.

“On board my ship, I have a man who is the son of one of Fire Lord Azulon’s royal advisors. He is a man with high status. He happens to be looking for a new servant to help keep up his house. Now, most of the crew on board this ship is made up of war criminals who are here as punishment, and a man of his rank in society can’t possibly be seen with one of them, now can he?” Yon Rha took a step closer to where Sokka knelt. “But, when I told him of a young Water Tribe boy we’d picked up during our raid, he expressed interest in having you.”

Sokka didn’t know how to feel or what to do. This could either be very good or very bad, he decided. He hoped this new man wasn’t a firebender.

“You  _ will _ obey him. You  _ will  _ respect him and work harder for him than you have ever worked in your life. You will earn your place, or I will be to blame for your insolence. And if I learn of any misbehavior from you, you will wish I had killed you on that icy slab of rock you called home.”

Sokka’s stomach gave in. Fortunately, most of the vomit stayed in his mouth, and the rest landed on the rough, torn maroon pants he had been given. With luck, Yon Rha wouldn’t notice.

Not that Sokka was particularly lucky.

* * *

The final night on the ship found Sokka curled up against Rei, who comforted him by telling him of the man he was set to be working under. He has a daughter, Rei told him, and will most likely show more mercy toward a child than a typical worker.

Sokka could only pray Rei was right.

“Will you be coming with me?” Sokka whispered that night, trembling beside the woman who had protected him like a mother despite the sweltering heat.

Rei shook her head sadly. “I can’t. I’m set to go to the Boiling Rock after this.”

The Boiling Rock. That was the top security prison in the Fire Nation, Sokka had learned. It was for the worst of criminals and traitors. “What did you do?” Sokka asked quietly.

Rei was silent for a long time before answering. “I snuck into the army to try to save my son. He was already dead by the time I reached where he had been, and at that point I was caught and arrested as a traitor. I was sentenced to serve under Yon Rha until his mission to wipe out your tribe was completed, at which point I’d be transferred to the prison.

It took a few moments for the weight of what Rei said to sink in, but when it finally did, Sokka found tears were sliding down his face, silently.

* * *

The Fire Nation is hot.

Sure, it’s not as unbearable as the boiler room had been, but Sokka could barely believe a place so hot could possibly exist.

Chaos followed the landing of the ship, as everyone was being sorted out into different categories. Sokka was pressed up next to Rei when she had been dragged away towards the group headed for the Boiling Rock. He called out for her, reaching for her, and tears were fresh on his face.

He knew he was never going to see her again.

A man dressed in fine reds and golds approached Sokka, tears still streaming. “You’re Sokka, aren’t you?”

Sokka recognized the status of the man and instantly knelt and bowed. “Yes, sir, I am,” he responded, face pointed towards the rough, scorched dirt.

“Good.” The man grunted in a way Sokka had learned signaled that he was allowed to stand, so he did so. “My name is Yung Wu, and I am your master now. Come with me, you will carry my things as we journey to my home.”

Sokka obeyed silently. He gathered Yung Wu’s belongings and followed him to a regal-looking carriage. As he climbed into the nicest chamber he had seen since what had been two months aboard the ship, he looked over the crowd of servants and soldiers alike, trying to see Rei one last time, his heart beating painfully as he was once again unable to say goodbye.

He thought of Katara.

_ Please, if there are any spirits listening, let her be okay. _


	2. Run, Boy, Run (Woodkid)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka gains some experience in the way the Fire Nation works, and has to deal with trauma resulting from his time on the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title that was too long: "Tomorrow is another day, and you won't have to hide away"
> 
> This chapter is shorter because I cut it in half so I'm sorry, also I'm sorry about the long wait! I haven't had computer access very much due to quarantine. Hopefully chapter 3 will come faster but no promises haha

It was a strange thing, realizing that the Fire Nation was beautiful.

When he had imagined it, during those months on the ship, he had pictured ash and wastelands, brown and gray and empty. What he found was a country full of life, with green grass and tall trees and  _ flowers, _ the kind of flowers that would never have survived in the South even during the warmest months.

Children played and laughed in the streets. Adults walked and chatted casually in markets. The people were happy, as if they were oblivious to the way their army was destroying the lives of so many people outside their own land, or as if they didn’t care at all.

It only took Sokka three days to stop talking.

He barely interacted with Yung Wu, instead taking care of various things around his house. He was doing women’s work, cleaning the floors and cooking the meals and washing the clothes, but he noticed quickly that in the Fire Nation, tasks weren’t exactly split by gender. There were male and female servants, and the tasks were divided in such a way that there was more or less an equal amount of men and women participating in each.

How strange.

Sokka learned very quickly that he wasn’t meant to speak, so he didn’t at all. After being taught how to perform his duties, he kept silent, but not simply because he was meant to be. It was like his tongue had been frozen in place. Even if he wanted to talk, he couldn’t.

There were many things about the Fire Nation Sokka had to adjust to, which had not been necessary on the ship. For example, everyone in the Fire Nation held high respect for Agni, the sun god, and, in a nation full of benders who used their emotions to fuel their bending, meditation was common practice to aid them in controlling their emotions to prevent firebending accidents. Those two things merged, and, throughout most of the nation, it was expected to leave time every day for everyone to meditate and pray to Agni. Even servants.

So, for around half an hour every day, Sokka had a small break from the overwhelming amount of work Yung Wu assigned to him. He sat in a small, bright room with a window on the ceiling, supposedly to allow the light of the sun through to the room. There were small candles on a short table, with more scattered near the edges of the room. There were images of what Sokka assumed to be Agni, and signs with words in Fire Nation script.

Sokka was not a spiritual person. He barely paid attention to Gran-Gran’s stories about the spirits, when she told them. Sure, he believed in them, and knew that they were powerful, but he just didn’t get the concept of worshipping them, or anything like that. He definitely never prayed before. It just wasn’t something he felt the need to do.

However, despite being only ten years old, Sokka was intelligent. He was too smart to pass up the opportunity for a break in his work. So every day, he sat in the small chamber, and breathed.

He thought about his home, about the ice and packed snow and canoes and penguin seals and his  _ family _ , he thought about his family most of all. He thought of his mom, and his dad, and Katara, his little sister who was a pain in the butt most of the time but that he was supposed to protect and be there for, and now he wasn’t. Now he was in the Fire Nation, captured, forced into servitude, and Katara probably had no idea.

A distant bell chimed, one that marked every hour, and Sokka knew it was his time to leave. He stood up, closing his eyes, and braced himself for the rest of the day.

* * *

It had been a small accident.

A visitor had been welcomed into Yung Wu’s home, and Sokka had been tasked with helping to serve the meals. A simple task, though it was women’s work, and Sokka was grateful for it.

Until he spilled boiling hot soup all over the guest.

The guest was young, a man dressed in finer clothing than Sokka had ever seen. His hair was pulled back into a tight knot, with a simple golden ornament shaped like a flame sitting neatly on the top of his head.

And he was screaming.

_ Shit, shit, shit what do I do?  _ Sokka backed away from the man, panicked, as Yung Wu stood up and rushed to his guest’s side.

“My prince, are you okay?!”

Sokka’s heart dropped to his stomach.

_ Prince? _

“Please rest assured, the servant responsible for this will be adequately punished-”

That was the last thing Sokka heard. He wasn’t fully aware of what was happening as he sprinted out of the building, out into the streets of the strange Fire Nation city as angry voices shouted after him.

* * *

Sokka ran. He ran and ran, adrenaline keeping him from growing tired. He wove through the streets, pushing his way past mothers and children, past merchants and customers.

_ I have to get away, I can’t let him hurt me, I can’t I can’t I can’t. _

He looked up to find that he had wandered into a dark, mostly hidden alleyway. Sokka collapsed on the ground, taking approximately three seconds to catch his breath, then felt a fresh wave of panic flood through him.

What did he just do?

Oh, spirits, he was going to cry.

He didn’t want to be punished, not like on the ship. But… this was almost worse. At least there, Sokka had a bed to sleep on (that was hardly more than hay on the ground) and food to eat (sometimes, never enough). What was he supposed to do now? He had no way of getting food or shelter, and if he was discovered by the large majority of Fire Nation citizens to be Water Tribe, he’d probably be dead on the spot. That, or sent to serve someone new.

The first tears came silently, and the dam broke. Sokka couldn’t contain his sobs, his entire body shaking.

The young boy had no way of telling how much time had passed, but after a while the sun was setting. Sokka couldn’t cry anymore, but his body was still trembling when someone entered the alley and called out to him.

“Excuse me?”

Sokka looked up, panicked, and tried to back further into the shadows. He barely moved at all when the voice called again.

“Please, young man, I’m not going to hurt you. I’d just like to talk, okay?”

Sokka froze. The voice seemed kind, and genuine. He sat still, not moving, not making a sound, but allowed the owner of the voice to approach.

The man stepped into the dim light, and Sokka gasped.

It was the prince.

“Hello, there,” the prince said, smiling gently. His elaborate outfit had been shed, replaced with a simple yet elegant top and bottom, soup-free. “I didn’t mean to scare you off like that. Are you alright?”

Sokka was staring in shock. He realized his mouth was open, and he closed it quickly. He tried to nod in response to the prince’s question, but was too frozen.

The man seemed to notice, as his smile faltered slightly, but he didn’t let it fall away entirely.

“You seem scared. I’m not surprised,” the prince commented, “seeing as you’re Water Tribe. It must be terrifying to be somewhere so far from home, and I’m sure it wasn’t by choice.”

Sokka frowned at that. How did the prince know he was Water Tribe? Surely it was too dark for him to see the blue of Sokka’s eyes.

The prince laughed softly. “You’re wondering how I knew? No offense, kiddo, but if your dark skin wasn’t enough to give it away, your white hair definitely was.

Sokk went to shrug and… wait, white hair? What did the prince mean, white hair? Last Sokka checked, his hair was brown…

He grabbed a handful of it and tried pulling it down in front of his eyes. His hair had grown while on the ship, and even more in the approximately three months or so he’d been in the Fire Nation, but he could only barely see the tips of it in front of his eyes.

The light reflected off of it, allowing Sokka to barely catch a glimpse of silver.

The prince was eyeing him carefully. “Is… is your hair not normally white?”

Sokka shook his head and let his hand fall. He didn’t know what happened to his hair or why, but it made him feel weird. Unsafe.

The prince sighed softly. “Well, I can’t tell you why that has happened to you, but… I believe I once heard of a woman whose hair turned white in one night after she experienced a very stressful situation. I don’t remember the details… maybe that happened to you?”

Sokka didn’t respond. He looked down at the ground, still unable to quite get over the way dirt and grass looked. It was so different from the icy landscape of home… an image he could feel himself forgetting.

It scared him.

“Well… I cannot stay out here all night, kid, but from the looks of things you don’t want to go back to that place, and I doubt you have anywhere else to go. Am I right?” The prince asked gently.

Sokka nodded.

“Well, then,” the prince said, “I suppose you’ll have to come with me then.”

Sokka made a puzzled expression. Come with the prince? Where? Back to Yung Wu? To be punished? What was going to happen to him?

But the prince just smiled. “You can come serve me at the palace. I’ll treat you better than that wrinkly old admiral did, I promise.”

Serve… at the palace? Was this some kind of trick? Sokka immediately looked around the alley, trying to find a way out, but stopped himself.

What if the prince was being sincere?

What if the palace is a better place than anything he’d seen of the Fire Nation so far?

He forced himself to take a deep breath.

_ Okay, Sokka. Go with the strangely nice prince, and if he turns out to be definitely evil, find a way to escape. Yeah. That’s a good plan. _

Or, at least, the best one he had to go off of.

The prince offered his hand, and Sokka took it, though not before hesitating. The prince pulled him to his feet and reached out to help steady him when Sokka started swaying.

“Oh, and since you’re Water Tribe, I should probably introduce myself,” the prince commented, amused, as they walked out of the alley side by side. “It’s not often I get to do that.”

Sokka looked up at the prince, noting the kind softness to his face and deciding, for now, this was someone he could trust, at least as much as anyone from the Fire Nation could be trusted.

The prince looked down at him and smiled, though not without a hint of sadness, a hint of pity behind his eyes. “I am Prince Lu Ten, son of Crown Prince Iroh. Welcome to the Fire Nation, kiddo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I love Lu Ten.
> 
> Everyone's comments have given me life, thank you so much I love all of you


	3. I'm too Young (Three Days Grace)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka is struggling, but Lu Ten helps. Also, a strange first encounter happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, hi. I'm here with another chapter, once again after way too long. It's probably bad since I wrote it in one sitting but I'm too anxious to get it out, let me know what you think though :)
> 
> Second, and more importantly, TW FOR THIS CHAPTER:  
> Contemplation of suicide

A few weeks had passed, but Sokka still hated the mirror.

It made him realize, the first time he saw it, that he hadn’t seen his reflection since he’d been home. Home… It felt like he hadn’t been in the South Pole since a lifetime ago, though he knew it had to be less than a year. Time had just flowed together since he was taken. Sometimes several days passed in what felt like one, or one day felt like weeks.

He had to say, he preferred the palace. Each morning, he entered Prince Lu Ten’s room at the same time, helping to bring breakfast. Why the prince had trusted him to help carry food after the accident at their first meeting, Sokka didn’t know. But he did, so Sokka did his best not to mess up again. 

After allowing the prince to eat in private, Sokka helped others heat the bath waters for the prince. The bath was _huge_ , so large that Sokka could easily drown in it.

Unfortunately, that was something he considered more than once.

It started with the mirror. His reflection had startled him when he first saw it, because it _wasn’t him_. Well, no, of course it was, but he didn’t recognize himself.

The first thing he realized was that Prince Lu Ten had been right about his hair. It wasn’t quite white, Sokka decided. More of a light gray, almost silver in some lights. It wasn’t attractive. Sokka wasn’t a vain person, and he couldn’t afford to be in his situation, but the change in his hair color distressed him more than he wanted to admit.

Not that he was admitting anything to anybody. He found that, no matter how much he wanted to answer the prince’s questions about who he was or why he was in the Fire Nation, his mouth wouldn’t move. It was as if someone had frozen his tongue solid.

He knew he could move it, though. One day, maybe three or four days after he’d come to the palace, he had stood in front of the mirror after another unsuccessful attempt to talk with Prince Lu Ten and had mouthed words at himself, trying to make sound come out, as he studied his other features.

The second thing he hated were his eyes. They used to be bright blue, he remembered. Tried to remember. Did his best to not forget. They were bright blue, but now they were dull, closer to gray. If he didn’t know better, he’d say he could be descended from airbenders, but he knew better. The airbenders were all dead, and if they weren’t, Sokka was fairly certain the gray of their eyes was warm and lively. Sokka’s eyes were dull and dead.

Not to mention the bags under his eyes. He had a room all to himself here, with a warm, comfortable bed, softer than his one at home (or was it? He could barely remember what his old bed looked like, let alone how it felt), yet he struggled every night with falling asleep. Prince Lu Ten had told him that it was alright when the prince, also a slight insomniac, had been wandering the halls at a late hour. The prince had seen Sokka sitting on his bed with the door open, staring at the wall, and had invited him to join the walk. Sokka denied, but the prince told him that he was welcome to wander whenever he wasn’t busy, including at night time, as long as he stayed in the branch of the palace by Prince Lu Ten and his father, Prince Iroh.

So Sokka wandered around the palace most nights. He found that many other servants worked exclusively at night, cleaning when they were out of the way of the royals. Others also found themselves unable to sleep and would walk around to clear their minds.

For Sokka, however, he usually ended up in front of the mirror at some point during the night.

The third change that bothered him were his expressions. He couldn’t smile. He just couldn’t make it happen, and when he tried, when he used his fingers to tug up the corners of his mouth into a curve, none of the other parts of his face matched. His eyes were too empty. So after trying that once, he stopped.

It was strange, he decided, that he snuck down to the bath room so often to look in a mirror when it only distressed him. All it did was remind him that he was so far from his home, and that he had been for so long. It was a reminder that he’d probably never be able to go back, and he hated it. So why did he go there day after day?

Maybe because it was so close to the water. It was almost tempting, sometimes, which Sokka thought was odd. It was never something he considered until after Prince Lu Ten brought him to the palace, a better place by a long shot than where he’d been. But it was hard, harder than he could possibly have prepared himself for, to keep going every day. To wake up in the morning after little sleep knowing he’d most likely never see his sister again. His mom. His dad. Gran-Gran.

Sokka was just tired.

* * *

Prince Lu Ten talked to Sokka daily.

Sokka wasn’t sure why, since he wasn’t able to respond. But, one day, the prince had brought a moderate sized scroll with him that afternoon and had unrolled the start of it for Sokka to see. On it were images of hands.

Sokka looked up at the prince in confusion, but he was smiling. “My father had an idea,” Prince Lu Ten began to say, “And I wanted to test it out with you, if you’re okay with it. This,” he pointed to the scroll, “Is the basics of Earth Kingdom Sign Language.”

Sign language? Sokka vaguely knew of the concept. It was a means of communicating with your hands if you couldn’t hear, right?”

Prince Lu Ten continued. “Since you seem to be mute, we thought that, perhaps, sign language would come more easily to you. It could provide you with a way to communicate more effectively with us, at least enough that you can tell us your name.” The prince smiled at Sokka, and suddenly Sokka was intrigued. Also, Prince Lu Ten had talked about him with Prince Iroh?

“Would you like to learn?” Prince Lu Ten asked, and after some consideration, Sokka nodded. It wasn’t a hard decision.

After that, the afternoon meetings became less of Lu Ten checking up on the youngest staff member at the palace, and more of the pair learning the new language together. Soon enough, they had picked up the basic skills needed for Sokka to spell his name.

“Sokka,” Prince Lu Ten tested, and Sokka nodded to let him know that he was correct. “That’s an unusual name, at least in the Fire Nation.” Sokka shrugged. “I like it, though.”

Once, Prince Iroh had joined. The man was pleasant, Sokka decided, and seemed like a good person. Sokka felt somewhat relieved to meet the older man, knowing that the future of the Fire Nation and, therefore, the world lay in his hands. Prince Iroh had a way of making Sokka feel calmer than he ever had in the Fire Nation, possibly because of his otherworldly tea.

“Tell me, young Sokka,” Prince Iroh asked. “Have you been comfortable here?”

The question surprised Sokka, but he nodded honestly. He missed his home, but the palace had been good for him. He wasn’t anywhere close to overworked, and the tasks he was given were mostly the more pleasant ones, at Prince Lu Ten’s request.

“I am glad to hear it,” Prince Iroh told him, and Sokka smiled, _actually smiled,_ in response. He signed a basic sign, _thank you,_ to Prince Iroh, who had apparently picked up on a little bit of the language himself. “You’re welcome!”

It made Sokka wonder how members of the royal family like Prince Lu Ten and Prince Iroh could exist, yet the Fire Lord had caused so much destruction and hatred to the world.

* * *

Sokka was at the mirror one night, practicing new signs. He still had a habit of looking at his reflection too long, and finding his thoughts in places darker than most ten (eleven? He didn’t know) year olds’, but signing had helped keep him away from those thoughts for the most part.

He had finally grown tired, deciding to head back to his room. He had avoided all thoughts of the bath water that night, and he managed a small, weak, temporary smile to himself at his victory before he crashed head first into another person.

This person had been running through the dark hallway and had turned the corner too quickly to see Sokka before they both landed on the ground. The other person groaned, and Sokka noticed immediately that it was a young boy, probably around his age. The boy was dressed in night robes, but they were far too elaborate for him to be of the same status as Sokka. No, they were far closer to the ones worn by Prince Lu Ten. So that made this… Prince Zuko?

Sokka had heard about Prince Lu Ten’s younger cousins, Prince Zuko and Princess Azula. According to Prince Lu Ten, they were around Sokka’s age. Prince Zuko was awkward and defensive, but funny and sweet, according to Prince Lu Ten. Sokka supposed he was about to see for himself.

“Watch where you’re going!” The boy not-quite-whispered to Sokka.

Sokka instinctively signed _sorry_ before realizing that this wasn’t Prince Lu Ten or Prince Iroh. Did this kid (Prince Zuko?) know sign language? Based on the glare he received, Sokka wasn’t betting on it.

The kid stumbled to his feet, pressing a finger to his lips as Sokka mimicked him, slower. “Don’t get me caught, okay?”

Caught?

Sokka barely had time to figure out what that meant when the boy grabbed his hand and started pulling him down the hall towards… the palace doors?

Well, a side entrance, anyway. Still, it was strange. Sokka hadn’t set foot outside the palace since he’d arrived, and now the boy seemed like he was heading straight for the doors.

When they got about 50 feet away, Sokka tugged on the boy’s arm, making the boy look back at him. Sokka got a good look at the boy’s features then, despite the dark lighting. He had fair skin, golden almond-shaped eyes, and deep black hair that fell around his face awkwardly, like it was used to being tied back. Sokka understood that. His hair never felt like it fell properly, even though it had been a long time since he’d tied it back.

“What?” the boy asked, slightly impatient. Sokka tried to find words, but found himself speechless as ever. The boy just turned around and kept going. “Look, I’m not allowed to leave by myself,” he explained as they reached the door, “And everyone else said no, so I thought I’d drag you along with me since you seemed small enough that you couldn’t fight back.”

Sokka was stunned at that, trying to process it. Before he had time to get offended, the door had been pried open and he was stumbling out into the cool night air.

He’d been outside since getting to the palace, but only in the garden with Prince Lu Ten. Outside this door, he found several steps ending in a path that seemed to lead directly to the town surrounding the palace. Before he had a chance to fully take in the scenery, though, he was being pulled down the stairs.

“Come on, faster!” The boy said, still somewhat whispering but louder than before. Sokka found himself rushing alongside the boy, for some reason that he didn’t let himself question.

They reached the bottom quickly, Sokka enjoying the taste of the fresh air, and they sprinted down the path. The boy seemed in a rush, so Sokka rushed, too.

When the path met the town, Sokka was met by strangers, possibly the same that he had pushed through to run away before Lu Ten had found him. It had been several months since then, but being back was a strange sensation. He let himself be led by the boy until he seemed to spot something, letting out an irritated groan. “She beat me.”

The boys slowed to a walk before approaching the point he had seen. Sure enough, a girl was standing next to an empty booth, arms crossed. “You took forever, Zuzu,” The girl called.

Zuzu… Zuko? Prince Zuko? Sokka had been right, then. Was this girl a secret girlfriend? Unlikely, he thought, noticing the similarities in their appearances. No, this was Princess Azula.

“I came as fast as possible, Azula! How were you so fast?”

She just scoffed, a weird sound from such a young girl. “I didn’t feel the need to bring a servant with me. What, afraid of getting in trouble? Please, Zuzu.” Princess Azula barely glanced at Sokka, as if he wasn’t worth her acknowledgement.

“I don’t break the rules!”

“Sure,” Princess Azula said, grinning, “Which is why you snuck out to race me here when we are meant to be asleep, right?”

She was intentionally antagonizing Prince Zuko, Sokka realized. Before Prince Zuko could do anything, though, Princess Azula pushed off from the wall and walked away from the booth. “Well, I’m heading home. That was fun, Zuzu, beating you again. Make sure you make it back before they realize you’re gone!” She called, skipping away.

Prince Zuko yelled, frustrated, before grabbing Sokka’s hand and running back toward the palace wordlessly. They didn’t stop until he was back within the palace, with Prince Zuko kicking the doors after he had shut them.

He turned to face Sokka. “Not a word to anyone, okay? She is _not_ getting me in trouble again.”

And just like that, the prince stormed off.

_That was something,_ Sokka thought to himself. He was exhausted, but he decided that in the morning he’d have to confront Prince Lu Ten about his… strange cousin.

He fell asleep thinking of his sign language vocabulary, deciding exactly how he’d explain his first interaction with Prince Zuko, unaware that Prince Lu Ten and his father would be gone before he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for so many kind comments holy shit guys I love you all and I will try to be better about responding to them haha, I'll get to all of you eventually :D


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